Laminated trimming strip and method for making same



May 31, 1938. v H, HUFFER I 2,119,482

LAMINATED TRIMMING STRIP AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME File d March 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l y 1938- G. H. VI-VIUFFER 2,119,482

LAMINATED TRIMMING STRIP AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME Filed March 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 31, 1938 UNITED STATES LAMINATED TBIMM'ING STRIP AND ltIETHOD FOR MAKING SAlVIE Glen H. Hufier, Union City, Ind., assignor to Backstay Welt Company, Union City, Ind., a

corporation of Indiana Application March 12, 193a, Serial No. 195,653-

7 Claims.

My invention relates to the production of compact contoured bodies of elongated form, useful per sefor some purposes, but more particularly adapted to be enclosed within a covering fabric to I form a trimming welt, binding or the like.

A prime requisite of such bodies is ability to be ,bent or disposed about short curves laterally without'puckering, buckling, kinking, or appreciable change in cross sectional size or shape. Therefore the body must be flexible, and various flexible materials have heretofore been used with varying degrees of success.

Prior tomy present invention rubber has been considered the best material for the purpose. By extrusion or molding it can,be shaped into any desired cross sectional form, and the resulting body can be bent around very short lateral curves without cross sectional distortion, but the high cost of rubber has kept it from being widely adopted, Another and probably less serious objection is the fact that it does not age well, becoming oxidized after a certain amount of exposure to the air and thereby losing much of its resilience and yieldability.

For many years paper has been the most widely used material for the purpose. It is inexpensive, does not deteriorate with age, and can be built up by assembling a plurality of plies, by folding,

twisting, braiding or otherwise. into bodies of various cross sectional shapes and various sizes. The principal difficulty with these paper bodies has been that they do not bend smoothly and without distortion, being in this respect far inferior to rubber, and this difliculty has been most acute in the case of those paper bodies which are built up of a plurality of plies superposed on each other in the form of separate strips or adjacent folded areas of a single strip. When disposed around a lateral curve of any but the very longest radius, the inner edge of such a body resists compression and therefore puckers, while the outer edge is incapable of elongating or stretching under the tension to which it is subjected and therefore buckles.

In an effort to solve this difficulty, it has been proposed to employ plies of paper which is creped laterally, so that a body formed from a plurality of such plies will contain a multiplicity of cross crepings or undulations. Those along the 50 outer edge of a curved portion of such a body were supposed to stretch out under the tension, and those along the inner edge were supposed to crowd more closely together under the compression, both actions taking place in the manner resulting in any appreciable change of the general cross sectional shape or size of the body. This theory is sound and lies at the basis of the present invention. In the previous efforts to embody it in an operative body, certain dimculties in assembling the plies or folds, in bonding them together, in compacting them to pro-- duce a body of requisite firmness, in fashioning the body with comparatively sharp lateral edges where desired, in retaining in the final product the crepings of the constituent sheet of paper, and difiiculties in other respects, were not overcome or solved, so that up to the present time the crepe paper body has not been successful and has not been commercially made.

A principal object of the present invention is the overcoming of the several difficulties which have stood in the way of the successful use of crepe paper in bodies of the type indicated, and the production of such a body out of crepep p r which will have all the virtues of the best rubber bodies and be free of the objectionable high cost and short life of the rubber bodies.

Certain preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a, plan view showing the basic constituent element of the new product, a ply comprising two sheets of crepe paper bonded together by a layer preferably consisting of asphaltic substance;

Fig. 2 .is a cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the ply of Fig. 1 coated with a thin surface film of cementitious substance, preferably latex or rubber deposited from latex, for bonding a plurality of such plies together to make up the final product;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, with an end in cross section, of the ply preliminarily folded on itself;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, with an end in cross section, of the body of Fig. 4 after the roll ing or compacting operation and shows the contour of one form of product;

Fig. 6 is similar view showing the contour of another form of product;

Figs. '7 to 12 inclusive are also perspective views, each with one end in cross section, showing examples of various selected other forms of final product;

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic illustration of the preferred method of making the product; and

Figs. 14 and 15 are perspective views, each with one end in cross section, showing addition- "a1 examples of still further forms of final prodsheet of such paper and 2|, 2l' indicate the individual crepings. Tension on such a sheet tends to destroy the crepings, and pressure normal to the sheet, as in an ironing or calendering operation, tends to mash the crepings into the sheet so as more or less to obliterate them. It is possible substantially completely to remove the crepings and restore the sheet to an uncreped condition by ironing or squeezing the sheet against a smooth surface, such as the surface of a die or roll, while subjecting it to lengthwise pull, particularly if the sheet be wet at the time.

Itis of the essence of the present invention that the crepings remain substantiallyv in the final product, through certain operations which if special precautions were not taken would result in loss or impairment of the crepings. Accordingly, since a number of stacked sheets or plies of a sheet are to be assembled to make up the desired body, I begin the assembling operation by uniting two of the sheets together by such means and in such way that the bonding medium and each of the sheets may reinforce and support the crepings against distortion. In Fig. 1 the upper sheet 20 is shown broken away to expose the layer 22 of material which bonds it to the lower and similar sheet 23. These elements are shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 2.

The characteristics of the bonding medium 22 are important. It must not be elastic in any appreciable degree, lest forces applied to the laminated sheet or to a body containing it succeed in straightening out the crepings by stretching the bonding medium. adhesive; specifically I have found asphaltic adhesives excellent for the purpose. A thin layer or film of asphaltic substance is therefore applied to one or both of the sheets of paper, preferably and conveniently while the sheets remain of their original roll width, and the sheets are united and bonded together, care being taken during this operation not to impair the crepings. The resulting laminated sheet, shown in Fig. 2, therefore possesses practically all the crepings, unimpaired in depth, that were in the original sheets, and the laminated sheet can be subjected with impunity to forces that .would straighten out individual sheets.

The layer 22 is applied substantially as thin as the nature of the bonding medium permits, because it is desirable to keep down to a minimum the stiffness and hardness which the inelastic bonding medium tends to give the laminated sheet, but the thickness of the layer 22 is a mat ter for selection, as will hereinafter appear.

The wide sheet shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is cut lengthwise into relatively narrow strips with the crepings extending crosswise, as in the original wide sheet. The width of the strips will depend on the size and shape of the body ultimately desired. Fig. 3 shows, on a scale enlarged over that of Fig. 1, but smaller than the size used in actual practice, one ofv such strips. This strip is folded on itself, or a plurality of them are stacked on each other, and in either case the several plies are adhesively secured together and compacted and I use an inert or dead shaped to provide a comparatively solid built-up body having the desired cross sectional contour and size.

The. building up of the plies and the manner in which they are bonded together are important and differ from methods heretofore employed.

The first operation on the strip is to apply to one or both of its surfaces a very thin film of adhesive substance which is essentially unlike the layer 22 in that it is elastic. Its thickness is kept at a minimum. It is applied tothe strip before the same is folded, while the strip is in fiat condition. In Fig. 3 the stippling designated 24 indicates this thin film of elastic or resilient adhesive substance.

I have found that latex is an excellent material from which to form the film 24 and that when properly applied it gives highly satisfactory results. A good mode of application consists in spraying latex on to one or both sides of the strip. It is desirable that the film be of minimum thickness or depth but substantially unbroken so as to cover substantially all the surface of the strip. Such a film lies almost wholly on the surface of the paper and does not penetrate the paper more than microscopically, so that the film, which dries practically as soon as it forms on the sheet, does not appreciably wet the sheet or strip or introduce into it any of the characteristics of saturated, soaked or wetted paper. The

stretched out sufficiently to lose much of its creped character; hence it can be handledthrough the subsequent body forming operations without substantial loss or impairment of the original crepings.

After the coating with latex, and preferably promptly thereafter, in a continuous operation as will be explained hereinafter, the strip is folded on itself, or a plurality of such sheets are stacked on each other. The folding or stacking operations will vary considerably, depending on the contour and size of body desired. Fig. 4 illustrates the result of one of these folding operations. The strip intended to be folded as shown in Fig. 4 obviously needs to be coated on one side only, and the foldingis accomplished in any convenient manner, as by running the strip through a die or a set of rolls in a known folding machine.

To complete the unfinished product shown in Fig. 4 it remains merely to compact the plies and alter the cross sectional shape of the body to produce the desired contour. Fig. 5 shows a body of half-oval shape; Fig. 6 shows one which is round in section; and Fig. 7 shows one which is square. All these are familiar shapes for finish-'- ing welt cores or fillers. The body shown in Fig. 4 is rolled or die formed into the shape shown in Fig. 5, and slightly differently folded strips are analogously formed into the shapes shown in Figs. 6 and '7, by any appropriate compacting operation. Of course these final shapes are selected from many possible ones, but they will sufficiently illustrate the principles and methods followed.

It will be observed from what has been stated hereinabove that the dry sheet folded as in Fig. 4, or otherwise as may be required for other final shapes, constitutes a comparatively soft, because uncompacted, body which is substantially devoid of filler between the adjacent plies of the strip. This results from the extreme thinness of the film latex.

of latex or its equivalent. Hence in the compacting operation there is no appreciable body of rubber or other material to fill spaces between the plies, no fiow of inter-ply material under the pressure of the compacting surfaces, no migration of such material in any direction between the plies, no accumulation of it to cause lumps or unevenness in the resulting body. On the contrary, the final product is substantially that which would be produced if no substance at all had been interposed between the plies, except that the plies are held together. The final product is hence substantially nothing but paper, except for the very small layer of asphalt or its equivalent. For this reason the lateral edges of the body, designated 25 in Fig. 5, and 26 in Fig. 7, can be made very sharp and thin, a result heretoforeunattained in folded paper cores or bodies. This result is possible because there is no appreciable quantity of rubber or the like entrapped between the plies. A factor in this result appears also to be the dry condition in which the strip is folded, so that the roll or die pressure which is applied to the roughly-formed body does not iron or pull the crepings out of it. It will be understood of course that it is most important that the final product, particularly when the shape is comparatively wide and fiat, have welldefined transverse crepings at its extreme edges to facilitate bending operations and accommodate rearrangement of the parts without cross sectional distortion, as has been explained. When the present invention is practiced as herein explained, the roll or die pressure which is applied to the extreme edges of the folded body can be made great enough to render the edges extremely thin and sharp, and under such pressure the crepings at the extreme edges are not materially impaired.

Latex is comparatively costly, so that in bodies of the type to which this invention relates latex cannot be commercially used as a material for contributing to the thickness of the body. In other words, paper is so much cheaper than latex or rubber that it is distinctly uncommercial to use latex or rubber as a filler or thickness medium where paper can be used for this purpose. My present invention for the first time permits paper to serve as substantially the whole thicknessimparting medium in these bodies, because the relative quantity of latex which I use is almost infinitesimal and is practically negligible as a cost factor.

It will be observed that the preferred final product comprises paper" plies separated and bonded together by alternate thin layers of asphaltic substance and rubber deposited from On lateral bending, the crepirigs at the inside and outside edges of the curve move more closely together and farther apart, respectively, in the manner of accordion pleats or folds, so that cross sectional contour and size is not noticeably changed. Inside the body the inert asphalt or its equivalent is somewhat stiff and resists bending, just as it resisted deformation of the. crepings during the folding and forming operations. However, the latex film is elastic and seems to permit some shifting of the surfaces which it bonds together. The net effect of these qualities is a body which is not limp but is stiff enough to be desirably form-maintaining, but which can be easily bent or curved by moderate force exerted by the hands of the trimmer and when so bent desirably tends to.

remain in the bent condition. This-is probably because, upon bending, strains which are not elastic are set up in the asphalt, andstrains which are elastic are set up in the latex deposition, but the latter, because of the very small quantity of latex used, are hardly enough to overcome the inertness of the asphalt. The combination of these factors, produces a body which the trimmer finds ideal in point of desirable resistance to bending, coupled with ability to be bent when desired. In other words, the body is not too limp and not too stiff, but for the first time in the history of this art, so far as I am aware, it correctly balances these opposite qualities.

In this respect, it will be appreciated, the new body is superior to the expensive rubber bodies, because they are elastic and tend immediately to resume straight form when bent, thus slowing up the operation of forming and tacking the strip around a curve.

-A slight amount of experimentation may be required to determine the exact thickness of the asphalt layer which will give best results. It is impossible to give absolute'measurements, because much will depend on the thickness of the paper used, the degree of stiffness desired in the final product, and on the particular composition of the asphaltic substance, but in general it may be stated that the layer of asphaltic substance may be about as thick as the sheet of paper to which it is applied. Such proportions give good results, and are suggested as a starting point for I experimenting with proportions.

In the drawings, only Fig. 2 shows the cross sectional appearance of the ply of laminated material (two sheets of crepe paper with an interposed layer of asphaltic substance or its equivalent) which forms substantially the entire bulk or thickness of the body into which it is folded or built up. For the sake of clearness, in Figs. 4 and 5 the laminated material is shown as a double line with the layer, omitted, and in Figs. 6 to 12 inclusive the laminated material is shown as a single solid line and the several piles of the material are shown as spaced slightly apart, so that these figures may be considered diagrammatic. In actual practice the cross section of the final body appears as solid paper with a fine thread of can be tacked, so tacking strips are fastened to the inside of the body shell by means of clips'spot welded to the body metal, and the interior fabrics are tacked to these strips. For example, a strip will be secured horizontally around the upper quarter of the body at substantially the juncture of the roof and side walls, and the head lining and wall covering fabrics have their edges tacked to this strip. The meeting edges of the fabrics are then covered by a finishing welt or the like, which is also tacked to the strip. Other tacking strips are appropriately disposed throughout the body interior, wherever a foundation capable of receiving tacks is needed.

I have discoveredthat the present invention provides a very superior kind of tacking 'strip.' It can be smoothly bent or curved wherever desired, and the successive layers of paper and asphaltic substance very tenaciously grip the tack or nail shanks. Of course my new tacking strip is less expensive than wood, is proof against slitting, and can be provided in strips of indefinite length.

Figs. 9, l0, and 11 show several forms of 'paratively thin side flanges.

"raisers", which are strips having a zone of relatively great thickness flanked by one or two com- These raisers are used in upholstering and allied arts, wherever a raised line or bead is to be incorporated in a covering fabric. A typical mode of use comprises sewing the side flange to the base or covering fabric or to both, with the raiser disposed beneath the covering fabric, so that the thickened-zone or "contour gives the desired beading effect. My invention is advantageously incorporated in the making of these raisers, as will be evident from the representative embodiments shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11. Where the side flanges are relatively thin, as is generally true in the case of these raisers, it is sometimes desirable to pink them about short lateral curves, but no puckering, buckling or kinking difliculties are encountered with the thickened zone.

Fig. 12 shows a body which may be used as a finishing welt core. It will be evident that the present selection of several illustrative types of bodies. is by no means exhaustive. It is a fact that the shapes, sizes and ply disposition can be varied almost endlessly to provide practically any style or form of laminated thickness strip for body.

Fig. 13 diagrammatically indicates the preferred method by which the body is made. In .this figure the sheets of crepe paper 20, 23 are coated with one or two films of asphaltic substance I0, 30, whereupon the sheets are rolled into contact with each other at ii to form the laminated sheet shown in Fig. 1. At 32 there is cut from the sheet a strip of the desired width,,then one or both surfaces are sprayed with latex at 33, the strip is folded at 34 and run through a forming die or roll series" 35 to compact the plies together.

It is possible to buy in the open market a lami- "nated sheet like that shown in Fig. 1 which is known as bag lining, and -Ihave successfully used this material.

.In each of the foregoing exemplifications, the body is built up by folding on itself a single thickness of laminated sheet. It will be evident, however, from what has been said hereinabove, that two or more plies of the laminated sheet may be bonded together initially, in the form of separate laminated sheets adhesively secured together by the latex or the like, or in the vform of a single laminated sheet folded once on itself, whereupon the multiple thickness of laminated sheet may be appropriately folded and later compressed as generally indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, or otherwise, depending of course on the shape and size of ultimate product desired.

In Fig. 14 an initially relatively wide ply of laminated material as shown in Fig. 2 is convoluted back and forth upon itself and compacted to form a contoured, laminated body, while in Fig. 15 a plurality of narrower plies, each made as shown in Fig. 3, are stacked on each other,

adhesively secured together in the manner here- 0 inabove explained, and compacted together.

Within the' principles laid down in the foregoing specification and stated in the appended claims the specific materials and method steps maybe altered or varied, since the specific data hereinabove given are, exce'pt'where otherwise declared, merely illustrative. Accordingly, limitations not clearly expresed in the claims are not to be read into them unless required by the statement of principles of the invention .in the adhesively secure the plies together.

I foregoing specification or by the state of the prior nated web a liquid coating which upon drying -l0 will deposit a thin film of elastic adhesive which lies substantially wholly on the surface of the paper, without penetrating the paper more than microscopically, and does not materially impair the crepings, allowing said coating to dry, thereafter folding the coated web on itself to provide an elongated strip consisting of a plurality of plies, and then applying pressure. to compact and 2. The method of making a compact contoured body of elongated form comprising cementing together two sheetsof crepe paper by means of relatively inelastic asphaltic adhesive, each sheet having its crepings extending transversely of the sheet, applying .to a surface of the resulting laminated web a. liquid coating which upon drying will deposit a thin film of elastic adhesive which lies substantially whollyon the surface of the 'paper, without penetrating the papermore than microscopically, and does not materially impair the crepings, allowing said coating to dry, thereafter foldingthe coated web on itself to provide an elongated strip consisting of a plurality of plies, and.then applying pressure to compact and adhesively secure theplies together.

3. The method of making a compact contoured body of elongated. form comprising cementing together two sheets of crepe paper bymeans of relatively inelastic asphaltic adhesive, each sheet having its crepings extending transversely of the sheet, applying latex to a surface of the resulting laminated web, allowing said latex to dry to form a thin film ofrubber which lies substantially wholly on the surface of the paper, without penetrating the paper more than microscopically, and does not materially impair the crepings, thereafter folding the coated web on itself to provide an elongated strip consisting of a plurality of plies, and then applying pressure to compact and adhesively secure the plies together.

' 4. The method of making a compact contoured body of I elongated form comprising cementing together two sheets of crepe paper by meansof relatively inelastic asphaltic adhesive, each sheet having its crepings extending transversely of the sheet, spraying latex on. to a surface of the resulting laminated fiat web in such a way that an extremely "thin-filmof rubber dries on said surface .without substantially wetting the paper or penetrating it more than microscopically, so that the crepings are not substantially impaired,

.thereafter folding the dry coated web on itself laminated web, while in substantially fiat, un-

folded condition, a liquid coating which upon drying will deposit a thin film of elastic adhesive which lies substantially wholly on the surfaces of the paper, without penetrating the paper more than microscopically, and does not materially impair the crepings, allowing said coating to dry, thereafter convoluting the web back and forth upon itself to provide an elongated strip consisting of a' plurality of plies, and then applying pressure to compact and adhesively secure the plies together.

6. A compact, contoured, laminated body comprising a ply consisting of two sheets of crepe paper, each having its crepings extending transversely of the sheet, bonded together by relatively inelastic yet pliable asphaltic adhesive, said ply being folded on itself to provide a plurality of layers, and interposed between the surfaces of the adjacent layers an exceedingly thin film of rubber deposited from latex lying substantially wholly on said surfaces without penetrating the paper more than microscopically and not materially impairing the crepings, said layers being united by said thin film into a compact, laminated body of stripform comprising alternate laminae of crepe paper, inelastic asphaltic adhesive, crepe paper, and-elastic adhesive, and none of said laminae materially penetrating any adjacent lamina, whereby the crepings of the constituent paper sheets remain substantially unimpaired in the body notwithstanding the use of pressurexto compact the laminae together.

7. A' compact, contoured, laminated body of strip form comprising. a plurality of groups of laminae, each group consisting successively of crepe paper, relatively inelastic asphaltic adhesive, another layer of crepe paper, and an exceedingly thin film of elastic adhesive, assembled compactly together in said order, the crepings of the crepe paper extending transversely of the body and the elastic adhesive laminae lying substantially wholly on the surface of the paper of adjacent groups without penetrating the paper more than microscopically, whereby the crepings of the constituent paper plies remain substantially unimpaired in the body, and all of said plurality of laminae being compressed compactly together.

GLEN H. HUFF'ER. 

